UPS or FedEx Rates? What to ask for.

UPS Fedex Discounted Rates

[Strapworks]

Just curious if anyone has anyone experience negotiating UPS or even FedEx rates at a spend of $1 million + per year?
I have negotiated our rates before, but this time I would like to get some feedback as to what others are seeing as really good discounts.
Probably ship 95% domestic.
And what about sorting?

Thanks

[httpwebwitch]

From the lack of replies (after 4 months), I'd venture that no one here has a $1M spend for UPS or FedEx. Except you.

Would you care to share your experiences?

[Strapworks]

LOL, there are, but I guess they don't want to share their experiences.
In my experience at this level its harder for FedEx and UPS to continue battling over rates, so you will find that they start offering other "incentives".
Both have purchasing programs where you can buy from Dell, HP, or other approved Vendors and they will pick up the bill up to a pre-arranged amount.
Both have Business Improvement Specialists that will come in to your business and offer ideas for improvements that either will lead towards a more efficient workspace, warehouse, inventory, or employees. They really can get super detailed, or just tailor it to your needs. All of this for free of course (when other companies have quoted me $30,000 or more).
Both will work on your time table, you tell them when you want delivery and when you want pickup. I don't, but I have seen some companies that have UPS/FedEx trucks left at their location and they load at their leisure.
There are other incentives, but I don't want to get into them, on typically more personal basis.
As far as rates you should be looking at between 50-75% off as a standard, but rate discounts are typically broken up into various categories based on either shipment type, delivery location, or money spent (and could be as high as 90% in rare cases). It really depends not only on what you spend but also on how you rank in your community. Each UPS/FedEx "zone" has their own quota and if you are the big boy in your area they will do almost anything to keep you from switching to the competitor, and that may mean giving you rates or incentives that typically are only given to much larger companies. You don't necessarily have to be spending $millions, but over $250,000 per year you can start flexing a little.
Good Luck

[Strapworks]

A side note about USPS.
Besides their standard rates you find at the Post Office and Online you can get "Commercial" and "Commercial Plus" based pricing.
Commercial is basically open to anyone using either Endicia, Stamps.com, or USPS.com Click-N-Ship.
But, if you ship more than 100,000 pieces of any one shipping method (such as First Class) you can get approved for Commercial Plus pricing which is quite the discount.

My motto "The worst anyone could ever say is no, if you never ask then you never know".